Monthly Archives: January 2014

Hundreds of years ago, when I first got into radio, the easiest way to get hired was to have a BIG, DEEP voice. The guy with the biggest set of “pipes” was always the one most in demand. He got the best jobs for the most money, advanced up the ladder quickest, and got tons of voice work to make outside income.

As radio got more real sounding, those guys were simply described as “pukers.” And today, there are distinct negatives associated with the old-school big “radio” voice. Having worked with hundreds of “big pipes” guys over the years (and several Voice Actors that you hear everyday on national spots and movie trailers), some new conclusions have emerged.

In today’s radio, especially in female-targeted formats, big huge voices can easily come across as either tired or angry. So if you’ve got one of those giant voices, work on staying in the upper half of your vocal range all the time. Try to avoid “bottoming out” or the “growly” sound. Having a nice voice is a great gift, but in the modern era, it’s about resonance, not depth, like a great guitar. We’re not out to scare small children here.

Your “radio voice” doesn’t impress anyone except other disc jockeys. Get over it, and just talk to the listener like you would over lunch together.

Whenever a talent tells me that something “lit up the phone lines for two hours,” my response is always, “Well, I hope you didn’t run calls for that long.”

A lot of Air Talents won’t stop. For them, phone calls are like heroin. They’ll continue to take—and air—them as long as they keep coming in. This is almost always a mistake.

As you plan your show, think “two breaks”—one to set a subject up and one for a phone call response. Every call past that point has to EARN its way onto the air by contributing something new to the discussion.
Talk radio should streamline, too. By the time you do a good job of putting a topic on the table, you might take one “yes” call and one “no” call, but then you’re probably done.
And even the hottest topic should never go longer than an hour on the air, and never cross the top of the hour. Beating a subject to death isn’t the way to have Momentum.

Yes, there are exceptions…disasters. 9/11, Columbine, a flood or tornado in your area. But that’s about all I can think of. Your “weird food combinations” bit isn’t one.

Better to leave the listener wanting MORE than to be like a ham actor that keeps taking bows to diminishing applause.

Using too many words will poison a break. People are busy. They have lives. So don’t ramble and waste their time. Being concise is a challenge for most jocks. Talk show hosts in particular get really longwinded. We all know that person who uses 200 words when 40 would do. That’s not the guy we want to have a conversation with.

Use short sentences. FEWER words make it clear, not more words.

Here’s an example:
“Some people taking Viagra will experience side effects, some of which can be severe. Consult your doctor or qualified health professional before taking Viagra, and make sure that you’re healthy enough for sexual activity. If you experience an erection lasting for more than four hours, call a doctor.”

Blah, blah, blah. All they needed was “Ask your doctor before you take Viagra. There could be dangerous side effects.”

Why? What’s in it for me? If there’s nothing specific, it’s just “please do my show for me.” That’s been the tone of way too many shows for way too long. Plus, when you do something like this—something that isn’t relevant, or that I can ask Siri and get the answer in three seconds—I always wonder what you’re not doing to make room for this kind of stuff.

Stay top-of-mind. Talk about what the listener is already thinking about today. If it’s not in his or her Top 10, blow it off. Your show matters when your Content matters to the listener.

Here’s a little reminder of something a lot of air talents forget: At this moment, as you start this break, you’re not only talking to one of your P-1 listeners; you’re also speaking to the person who just tuned in…maybe for the first time.

If you think this way, you’ll be more welcoming, and always be inviting in more cume. More cume means a better chance for a diary or PPM device to go to one of your listeners.

This doesn’t just apply to what the jocks do or say. It’s important for a PD to embrace this, too, and design things accordingly. For example, the other day I heard a local station do a “Complete the lyric” contest—where the idea was to pick up where the song clip the jock played left off, and sing the next line.

I’m sure that on the drawing board, this looked great. But to me, it’s just one more station ‘preaching to the choir’—talking exclusively to the listeners they already have. If I’m new to the format, I don’t KNOW the lyrics to the songs you play yet. Since the most important factor in any contest is for me (as a listener) to believe that I have a real chance to win, this is a swing and a miss. I give up, tune out, and you miss an opportunity. (However, you do get to give yet another prize away to one of the 30 people who win every contest you ever run.)

If what you do is more open-ended, you’ll get more listeners to pay attention. Aim at the target listener, but don’t exclude anyone. McDonald’s targets women with kids, but that doesn’t mean men can’t eat there.